Get a kickboard and a permanent marker: Brendan Hansen and Aaron Pierisol will be signing autographs!

Jeffrey W. sent this to me:

"...Olympic Gold Medalists’ and Michael Phelps’ relay teammates, Aaron Piersol and Brendan Hansen will be available to speak with the public and sign autographs. I’m reaching out to the surrounding swim community to let them know. ..."

They will be at Lindberg Nutrition on March 14th. The address:

Lindberg Nutrition
3804 Sepulveda Blvd.
Torrance, CA
90505

Send pictures and I will post them to the blog!

Stephanie Rice signs a 2-year, $465,000, contract with Australia's Seven television network

From the CanadianPress: "... First up was a two-year, US$465,000 contract with Australia's Seven television network. She's already helped host a model contestant show for the network and done a few segments for a lifestyle program.

"I'm very interested in the media, and I love fashion," Rice said. "It's been a great experience, so different from the pool. And it might help prepare me for something after swimming."

Some of the gossip sections in Australian newspapers and magazines would have her convinced a post-swimming life in fashion is in the cards. ..." [Link]

Stephanie Rice is now a bought and paid for personality! All she has to do is be herself and talk about stuff that amuses her. Ultimately, her deal with Australia' Seven TV, is as ethical a transaction as you can get. She is not selling snake oil, fast food or Playboy magazines: She is selling her ideas, opinions, and ultimately herself!

Obviously Michael Phelps, Dara Torres and Amanda Beard have merged their swim careers with business interests, but what about Olympians such as Ryan Lochte, Kim Vandenberg, and Brendan Hanson Hansen? [oops!] All three have an amazing amount of Charisma great looks and the ability to communicate well. So why Stephanie Rice and not the three listed above?

I suspect that Stephanie Rice forewent the sports management route and an astutely went for talent management instead. Olympians should look at Rice as a business template and follow suit.

Kim Vandenberg is quite attractive, she is articulate, and poised. She is featured in the photograph above. I was impressed with her answers in this interview at Women'sHealth magazine: Link and this is why I use her as an example of poorly leveraged beauty and talent. Stephanie Rice is no Kim Vandenberg.

Ryan Lochte could be making HUGE modeling fees as could Brendan Hansen, who has demonstrated time and again that he is an amazing gentleman, has brand recognition in Asia and actively supports charitable organizations. These are talent "goldmines."

All of the above should have multiple agents: Modeling, theactrical, PR, and such not one agent does all.

Sports management is more interested in leveraging one's accomplishments rather than the athlete themselves. The above three athletes have so much to offer and they are practically invisible despite having a constituency as large if not larger than Stephanie Rice.

'Flickr' photoset of the 2008 US Olympic Training camp in Singapore!

This photo is titled: 'Dazzling Team Shot' - The girls of the 4x200 relay. What I like about this shot is not what it reveals; (though I like that too), but rather what our athletes wear to workout. Michael Phelps, for instance, seems to be wearing a pair of quasi-plaid briefs whereas Dara Torres prefers a more 'Wonder Woman' look.

Swimmers like Coughlin, Kara Lynn Joyce, Cullen Jones, Brendan Hansen and many others are featured here in richseow's photoset on flickr.com

If you go and look, leave comments for the guy, we need more candid and less staged photography like this.

Kitajima to Hansen: "You soooo choked!"

What a prick, huh?

Well, actually I made that up. The L.A. Times said that Kiajima was way more polite about it. Here is what they said: "...And Kitajima, the longtime rival of Hansen, was harsh in his post-race analysis. Of Hansen's fourth-place finish, he wrote on his own official website that Hansen basically choked. The language was more polite ("for a swimmer of his level it shouldn't be that difficult to qualify"), but the message was clear.

You could practically hear Kitajima sniff from his training base in Flagstaff, Ariz., where he is doing some high-altitude training.

Suddenly, these guys are getting really interesting -- and a little testy. Hansen is vowing to do what he can to help his former understudies -- Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau -- beat Kitajima in the 200." [Link]

Brendan Hansen is in the "lab" and he is wearing every manufacturers' suit!

Look at all that water in Brendan Hansen's hands. It looks just like cracked ice.

Here is Lisa Dillman from the L.A. Times and this article is Gold! So much info about Santa Clara but I m going to focus on this revealing fact: Nike has given Brendan Hansen permission to experiment with any suit he wants. At Santa Clara he wore a Lzr, his next race a TYR.

Snippets from the L.A. Times as to why: "... So Hansen gave Speedo a test run in the final of the 200 breaststroke, which he won in 2 minutes 10.62 seconds. Peirsol did his experimenting under quieter circumstances. "I'm not going to lie to you, I did wear something this morning," Peirsol said. ..."

"... Hansen said Sunday he plans to also test TYR's high-tech offering. Peirsol said he would consider it too. ..."

"We want to exhaust every possible option that we have," Hansen said. "If I get on the blocks and if I swim against somebody with a TYR suit, I know I've worn that, and I know what that feels like. I don't want there to be any guesswork at all about what my competitors are wearing. ..."

". . . I'm really pleased with the Nike suit I wore in the 100, so that's up there. . . . That one feels most comfortable. The one I wore tonight worked really good as well. I don't want you to think that my time had anything to do with the suit that I'm wearing."

"... Hansen wants the suit issue off the table in the next two to three weeks. "I'll have to sit down and write down on a piece of paper which one I like better, which one is more comfortable," he said. "I don't want to be telling you guys 'I don't know what I'm wearing' two days before the trials...." [Link]

Michael Phelps, Julianne Moore and Anne Leibovitz recreate "The Little Mermaid"

Disney has commissioned renowned photographer Anne Leibovitz to recreate famous Disney moments into a collection of photographs called the "Disney Dream Portrait Series." Such talent as Tina Fey, Jenifer Lopez, Jessica Biel, Gisele Bundchen, Mikail Baryshinikov, Scarlett Johansson, Beyoncé, David Beckham and many, many more have been chosen to pose. In the above photo, Michael Phelps, becomes a "merman" to Julianne Moore's, Ariel

Now, here is the best part: If you look really close, who is that bald guy in the center left, and the Africican guy in the back and that really hot brunette to the left, and what about that guy doing the flip turn? Well, you are looking at : Rowdy Gaines, Cullen Jones, Janet Evans, and Brendan Hansen.

Here is a link to a hi-rez version: [Link]

Here is a link to the press release: [Link]

Look how high Brendan Hansen's hips are when doing breststroke.

It's as if he is doing a butterfly undulation

Big meet this weekend: The Santa Clara International Invitational

This event has been going on since 1967, names like Mark Spitz, Pablo Morales, Don Scholander put in some time there but that was then and this is now. Expect to see: Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Aaron Piersol, Ian Crocker, Leisel Jones, Tara Kirk, Brent Hayden, Hayley Peirsol, Megan Jendrick, Brendan Hansen, Ryan Lochte, Kim Vandenberg from UCLA, and more.

If the Olympics are the Oscars, and the FINA World Championships of Swimming are the Emmy's, This meet is the Sundance Film Festival.

Here is a link to the home page which has links to the 'psyche sheet', a list of swimmers, and real time results. [Link]

Talk about an industrious work ethic...

"... I'm going to do what I've always done, work hard and keep raising the bar. I hope I can put something out there at Nationals, then we get a little break. After that, we work toward Beijing. I was talking with Eddie [Reese] the other day and told him I wanted to train so hard that if I have a bad race, I'm still going to win. He said he's never heard anyone say that before."

A profile of Brendan Hansen over at Lane 9 News: [Link]

Since I am on the subject of Brendan Hansen

Look at his timing and glide phase. He is also really flat in the water when he contracts his legs. Did you know that blogger trevr knows Brendan Hansen and even swam with him? You do now.

Brendan Hansen has his own Leukema Research Foundation page - How impressive is that?

As most know, Brendan Hansen swims breaststroke and he holds two world records in both the 200m and the 100m events. Add to that portfolio an American record and a NCAA record in the 200 SCY, another three medals total in all three flavors from the Athens Games in 2004 and you have a athlete with world class talent.

I just found out today that he is also quite charitable in that he has his own Leukemia Research Foundation pledge page here: [Link]

Lane 9 News has a report that he will be participating in a fund-raising walk to help raise research funds  with leukemia on June 21st in Chicago. He will be walking at the 3K Walk and Survivors Strut portion of the 13th Annual ABC7 Jim Gibbons Run/Walk. [Link] - [Carbuyer Article Link]

Brendan Hansen has a site full of media and even a blog!

Lane 9 news at Swimming World Mag is responsible for this find. There is also a fast interview therein as well where he says the most popular section is from a Q&A he did from 2004

So, Brendan Hansen has a site and it is full of galleries, wallpaper, icons, and verbiage all about him but here is a link to his blog: [Link]

Here is a great recap of yesterday's, or our today's, action from SI

I promise tonight I will talk up the heroic efforts of the Australian women, especially Jones; Lenton; and even France's, Laure Manaudou. For now this article by Sports Illustrated which has comments from Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman; Natalie's reaction; Perisol's; and Hansen which can all be viewed on page 2. [Link]

Kitajima's beautiful pull and glide breaststroke as seen underwater

Did you know that it has taken me almost three years to forgive Kitajima for doing a dolphin kick during a breaststroke turn against Brendan Hanson in Athens 2006? Now I feel he actually elevated the stroke by getting his interpretation of the breaststroke turn into the FINA handbook.